LAX to two days in Tucson, Arizona, Westin Spa, and the Zoo

After a day in Sacramento we traveled to Tucson, Arizona with a 2 hour layover at Los Angeles Airport which sucked, but Tucson is pretty cool city, so check out this post about Tucson and a visit to the Zoo and a stay at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa which was awesome and pretty.

Can you say damn that is a lot of people living in LA

Let’s leave LAX and head to Tucson

Grab my favorite seat in the back. Most people hate the back because you get off last but once your off your bags are already ready at the luggage roller. Also next to the bathrooms is a bonus.

Tucson Airport just how I imagined it… all rustic Indian style.

Also they have a super sweet walking escalator that boosts your speeds while walking, totally elite. The rental cars are right outside the terminal and bam they get you hooked up fast and pretty decent. Had to rent from Dollar but it costed more than a dollar so not real sure. If your landing here, expect a smooth transition out… lol.

Dinner at the Coronet

After landing and getting our rental car we were starving and decided to find somewhere to grub, the closest “gluten-free” spot was the Coronet and sure glad we found this place. Think of the Tower of Terror hotel, it’s a relic but imagine a restaurant still open inside that is still pushing 5 star food… that would be this place.

Drinks: Rabbit Cocktail was so amazing and literally tasted like bliss of butterbeer and something I’d find in Hogwarts SO GOOD. You can see it behind the mushrooms!

Marsala Paprika Mushrooms (allergic to Paparika) forgot about that but these things are tasty

Appetizer: Warm Olives was so damn tasty and juicy, I love getting all the flavor out by sucking on them, these were excellent and so fresh.
Parked across the street, not much signage to find this place but if you see Coronet Hotel your in the right place. From the service of walking in to walking out this is truly a 5 star gem that should get national attention. The waitress/manager was epic at accommodating a gluten-free patron such as myself and the food quality matched the service.

Organic chicken + rice pilaf so damn good off the bone. NOM

To find gluten free corn free Shepard’s pie is an epic win.

Main Course: All gluten-free of course, Got the Shepard’s Pie dish but forgot the name but it was made with cauliflower puree and rice flour filling, GLUTEN FREE HEAVEN I tell you, so delicious. Also got the Chicken with Rice and was a feast of goodness.

Dessert: Panna Cotta and Caramel Bite and both were AMAZING especially the cherries on the Panna Cotta, nomnomnomnom.

Waking up in the Westin La Paloma

Beautiful Westin Resort located 15 minutes outside of Tucson after you pass the 100 red lights. Beautiful rooms, beautiful views, the golf kart/walk to your room in the pouring 40 degree rain not so cool. Waking up to mountains is awesome and had no idea I would be.

I would come here for a weekend or two to get away and have fun, I bet during the summer this place is amazing and hoppin’ only about 30% full at the moment according to a staff member. The pool, restaurant, bar is all 5 star including the staff, this hotel is LEGIT. Check out all my photos of the hotel below with this gallery, then let’s take a trip to the Reid Park Zoo.

Lunch with a view at Azul Westin

Trip to the Reid Park Tucson Zoo

So this was the smallest zoo I’ve ever been too but one of the most interactive where you could actually see, touch, hear these animals close up like I’ve never experienced before. It was raining so I didn’t take my good camera but got a bunch of shots on my phone. Also the lady hooked it up for free since we came late. The lions roar in yo face.

At the entrance of the park before you enter this cool Peacock.

It was raining so these tigers were shy.

Every good zoo has a carousel but this one was shut down….

He was like whats up dude? Got a smoke? Camel no…

They had a lot of peacocks free roaming around

Good old stomping grounds, this animal was asleep.

Jeffrey the Giraffe just cruising around

I got a bunch of good photos of these bears, even I video I think I’ll post soon.

After the rain they were like goooooooo

“chillin”

He kept saying punk ass punk asss

Little duck pond, they were just cruising in circles

More peacocks just relaxing avoiding the rain

Right before he started growing at me all loud, I got a video I need to post. kiteh.

Then it started to pour so we had to find the exit and bail out quick!

Was a pretty cool Zoo for being so small and only taking 2 or so hours to finish.

Crave Coffee Stop

After hitting up the Zoo we were like let’s go try some local coffee and found on YELP crave was the best one in the area… so we headed out to find this place.

The beautiful views leaving the Zoo is simply amazing.

Cool bar and logo called Crave we found along the journey.

Espresso was served with some sweet furnishings of ceramic cup ware with a perfect cap on top. The latte iced with almond milk was awesome and tasted like a total junkie fix. I could finish the rest of my day with a slight hint of electricity.

Then I went back to my hotel and was getting hungry so made so great reservations at a place called Wildflower recommended by my friend.

First had to make a stop at Walgreens and was like this view I swear so awesome.

This is the most beautiful McDonald’s I’ve ever seen.

Dinner at Tucson’s Wildflower

Spent an hour looking for a really good restaurant while in Tucson, there just wasn’t that many options I was finding on YELP then my friend told me about Wildflower. I found it on yelp and called them instantly and checked for a table, they told me they were fully committed for the evening, I was like nooooooo.

Reservations on a Friday, for Wildflower? Damn!!!

Then I checked on OpenTable and bam found a table and showed up within the hour and got right in, there was a short 10 minute wait as told by our hostess Selena Gomez, and at the bar we received a Moscow Mule and let me tell you so damn fresh and good and they use Gosling ginger beer which is the best one.

Eh, didn’t realize the shot came out blurry, welcome to WILDFLOWER

The start of their cocktail menu, I was ready for a damn drink.

Waited about 20 minutes at the bar which was okay since we had some awesome drinks.

Got a gluten-free grilled artichoke for an app which was so damn good.

This was one of the best cheese plates I’ve ever had, including Gluten-Free bread.

Gluten-Free Short rib with Risotto was best meal I’ve had in 10 years.

My ladys Paella which was also gluten free and super tasty.

If your thinking about going to Wildflower, GO this place was epic, now back to the Westin and to start packing because we have a quick drive to Phoenix tomorrow.

Let’s drive to Phoenix, AZ

The next stop was the Phoenix Zoo and to hang out with a family member, this was a short 2 hour drive and since we got a suburban we decided to drive instead of fly and check out the country side. Which turned out to be a dessert and some what boring.

the View leaving our hotel parking lot… amazin.

our chariot for this journey

Goodbye Westin, until next time…

Views are like noooo come back

I was like okay this drive won’t be so bad!

Then the mountains slowly start fading away….

Goodbye beautiful Mountains

Maybe more mountains??!?! Let’s end up in Phoenix Already.

Thanks for following this post about my adventures in Tucson, which were pretty awesome and a great foodie town. If you have any questions feel free to email me, check out my adventures Tomorrow in Phoenix.

About Me

Diagnosed at the age of 23 with Eosinophilic Esophagitis which swelled my throat up to the point that I couldn't swallow. Ended up in surgery to see what was wrong and found out I was choking on a piece of chicken. Few allergy tests later I found out that I'm super allergic to wheat/gluten and a variety of other foods. Go me!

This blog is my personal endeavors of discovering a new world of gluten-free, organic, healthy foods, and a glimpse of my traveling adventures.

I'm still new to the entire travel blog scene so if you want a part time job or to help out let me know, could also use an editor.